A sweet shop owner who faced down a gunman trying to plunder her till today said he had “messed with the wrong woman”.
Darren O’Shea, 45, was jailed for 12 years after wielding an imitation handgun in raids on two stores in south-east London. At a Co-op in Eltham he escaped with £300 after threatening staff just after 9pm on July 13 last year.
Five days later he attempted the same thing in broad daylight at P&R Sweetshop, a mile and a half away in Charlton, ordering Jyotsna Patel, 58, to hand over cash from the till.
The mother of two, who owns the shop with her husband, said: “I am massively relieved that this man has been brought to justice and is now behind bars.”
She said she feared she would be killed but added: “I refused to hand over any money. I said I needed to pay rent and support my family and I work hard.
"He said he had a gun but I just stared him down. He pulled out a black gun and pointed it at me. I thought I could die but I was not going to give in.
“I am tough and do not back down. He had picked on the wrong woman here. I went for the alarm button and pressed it. He could see he couldn’t mess with me so ran off.”
Mrs Patel said she and her husband moved to a shop in Charlton eight years ago because of violence in Tottenham where she ran a business.
She added: “You have to fight back against these people.”
Her husband Chandrakant, 60, said: “She was so brave. It was all over in 30 seconds.”
O’Shea was identified from CCTV and traced to an apartment near Mrs Patel’s store, along with the imitation firearm. He told police he had committed both robberies to fund his drug addiction.
At Snaresbrook crown court on Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and another of attempted robbery and was jailed for 12 years.
